Drawoff tap for liquid-containing cartons



1952 T. H. DANIELS DRAWOFF TAP FOR LIQUID- CONTAINING CARTONS Filed March 14, 1947 IN V EN TOR.

772 e 0 den? 1% Dan/e45 A 7 7 'OE/VE Patented Feb. 12, 1 952 UNITED STATES PATENT zfssasa. I 'f I? DRAWOFF The i on LIQIiip-eoNrA-iNiNG ozm'roNs Theodore ban iels, Seattle, Wash.- hiipii'cafianiuarch 14, 1947;"s-aa1Nb. 734,789 Claims. (01. 222-51) This invention relates to :a device for tapping liquid-containing cartons for the purpose "of withdrawing selectively variable portions of the contained liquid, and finds perhaps its mesmevious usage as a mean of separating cream from milk in a carton of whole milk.

The device of the present invention is in the nature of a hollow tap open at both ends and having the leading end sharpened or otherwise formed in a manner which will enable the tap to pierce the wall of the carton; theliquid then flowing from the carton through the tap to a suitable, receptacle held below the discharge end of the tap; 7

Where, heretofore, efforts have been made to insert a tap through the side wall of a milk carten for the purpose of drawing oii the cream content, there has been this objection, namely, the level to which the liquid drops within the carton has been even with or perhaps very slight- 1y above the lower limit of the wall opening through which the top extends, and upon the removal of the tap it becomes necessary that the carton be handled with utmost care if ad'- ditional liquid is not to be spilled through the opening.- In such a case, even the slightest pressure upon the sides of the carton will cause the carton to simulate a bellows and pump a certain amount of liquid through the opening; and a certain amount of bleeding usually takes place even in the absence of any movement or disturbance of theicarton;

The present invention aims to devise'a tap which inherently lowers the liquid within the carton to a level appreciably below the. point at which the tap pierces the wall, and hence -per mits the user to move the carton quite freely without liability of thereby-raising the level a degree sufiicient to cause the liquid to spill through the opening. Further and more particular objects and advantages will, with the foregoing, appear and be understood in the course pf the following description and claims, the ihvl'a'ritior'i consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation of a cartoh=tapping device, as will be hereinafter described andclainled. In the accompahying drawing:

elite 1 is a fragmentary ndm elevational view of a conventional "inilk conta'iningcarton and showing a device constructed in accordance with the 'now preferred embodiment of the invention applied thereto. o c

Fig. '2 is a view thereof shown partly inverticalsection and partly in side elevation:

\ 1mg. 3 is a fragmentary unders de men v el :5

ing leg l 2 of the tap, The tap is force 2 of the tap and employing a scale enlarged from that of the preceding views.

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view on line 4'4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view toxa scale reduced from that of Figs. 1 and 2 to illustrate the manner in which a milk carton may be marked to expressly adapt the same to use with the present tap. 1

The tap of the preseht invention comprises a tube of an approximate L'-shape having one leg I!) of the L tapering for the greater part of its length and terminating in a comparatively sharp point -I I, while the other leg 12 0f. the L is or may be of a uniform diameterthroughout and with the end open The leg 12 is somewhat shorter than the leg l0, and'at or aboutthe midlength of this latter leg there is provided a :ci'r

cumscribing flange l3 presenting a plane-frontal face and having this face so disposed inrre-l at-ion to the axis of the related leg as to describe an acute angle between the underside of theileg and the pendant part of the flange. This angle preferably approximates 80". While the flange is illustrated as being made "an integral part of the tubular body, the flange might feasibly be comprised of a separate disc friction-fitted over the leg and relying, say, upon surface shoulders or the like formed on the leg to cock the disc to the proper angularity. g V

The leg I0 is desirably flattened upon-its .underside, or which is to say that part of the leg which lies between the flange and the spike tip, and cut through this flattened underside to occupy a position forwardly removed a material distance from the fiange are one or more Qpenings I4 giving access to the interior of the tube.

In using my tap, and assuming that it'is'desired to withdraw a part or all of the toeefeam contained in a carton C of whole milk, the operator first piercesthe 116p of theearton to prflkiduce a vent hole V at a point above the liquid level, and the spike up or thetap o'r, met, any sharp instrument may be used for this purpose. Having determined the level within the carton to which the liquid contentsare to be dropped. the operator applies the point "of the tap to a sidewall of the carton at a er t v'ated, say, V to ""abovethislevel'andp the tap inwardly to cause the same to Z the wall, havingtheretofore placed a other suitable receptacle belowtli s'po until thejfla'nge if; brdught against in w 11 and ,h at am new,

and as the tap is now withdrawn from the tap hole this lowered level precludes the remaining liquid within the carton from being spilled through the tap-hole in consequence of casual handling of the carton. Should it be desired to later draw additional liquid from the carton, the described operation may be repeated at a lower level or, in the alternative, the liquid can be poured either through the tap-hole or through the conventional discharge orifice with which liquid-containing cartons of the described character are customarily provided. It is desirable, in order to permit this latter orifice to be used, that the tap-hole or holes be punched in the back-Wall of the carton and the carton may then be freely tilted for use of the principal orifice without causing the contents to issue through the tap-hole.

It may be here pointed out that there are two purposes in mind in producing the leg it with a flattened underside. One such purpose is to hold the upper limit of the admission openings to the lowest possible level while still D mitting the holes to be of large-diameter circular form, and the other is to permit the tap to better penetrate the wall of the carton without liability of tearingv the latter. Were the admission openings to be of rectangular form, the sharp corners thereby produced would have a tendency to catch the material of the carton along the margins of the tap-hole as the tapering nose of the tap is forced inwardly through the wall.

Rather than to preliminarily employ the spike tip of my draw-off leg It] as a vent-producing punch, it will be obvious that the tap could be so formed as to punch a vent hole simultaneously with the insertion of the tap. For this purpose a separate punching tool would or could be carried upon an arm extending upwardly from the flange.

The described draw-oil tap and the manner of its usage will, it is believed, be clear from the foregoing. Various departures from the embodiment which I have here elected to illustrate may obviously be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit or the invention, and no limitations are to be implied by reason of having particularly described such illustrated embodiment. It is my intention that the hereto annexed claims be read with the broadest scope commensurate with the language used.

What I claim is:

1. A siphoning draw-off tap for liquid containing cartons comprising a tubular body open at both ends and produced to an elbow shape to describe two legs placed in angular relation and arranged one said leg to be inserted through the wall of the carton and the other said-leg to be exposed and project downwardlyto serve as a discharge spout, said insertable leg being also arranged to project downwardly in use and being characterized in that the same presents a flat wall upon the underside and has the end 4 opening formed in said fiat wall, the relationship of parts being such that both of the two end openings of the applied tap lie well below the lower limit of the tap hole which is formed in the carton and with the end opening of the exposed leg occupying a level at least as low as that occupied by the inserted legs opening.

2. A siphoning draw-01f tap for liquid-containing cartons comprising a tubulanbody'ppen at both ends and produced to an "elbow shape to describe two legs placed in angular relation and arranged one said leg to be inserted through the Wall of the cartonand the other said leg to be exposed and project downwardly to serve as a discharge spout, said insertable leg being terminally sharpened, presenting a flat wall upon the underside, and having its end opening formed in said fiat wall, the relationship of parts being such that both of the two end openings of the applied tap lie well below the lower limit of the tap hole which is formed in the carton and with the end opening of the exposed leg occupying a level at least as low as that occupiedby th inserted legs opening.

3. A siphoning draw-oil tap for liquid-containing cartons comprising a tubular body open at both ends and produced to an elbow shape to describe two legs placed in angularrelation and arranged one said leg to be inserted through the wall of the carton and the other said leg to be exposed and project downwardly to serve as a discharge spout, the insertable leg. tapering toward the free end, being terminally sharpened to penetrate the wall of the carton,'.and having its end opening placed upon the underside in relatively close proximity to ,the sharp,- ened terminus, said insertable leg being also ;arranged and adapted to project downwardly in use, the relationship of parts being such that both of the two end openings of the applied tap lie well below the lower limit of the, tap hole which is formed in the .cartonand with the end opening of .the exposed leg occupying a level at least as low as that occupied by the inserted legs opening.

4. A siphoning draw-off tap for liquid-containing cartons comprising a tubular body open at both ends and produced to an elbow shape to describe two legs placed in angular relation and arranged one said leg to be inserted through the Wall of the carton and the othersaid leg to be exposed and project downwardly to serve as a discharge spout, and a flange circumscribing said insertable leg adjacent its juncture with the spout and cooked to such an angle relative to the axial line of the leg as to cause the inserted leg to angle downwardlywithin the carton when the'flange is brought snugly to bear against the wall of the carton, the relationship of parts being such that both of the two'end openings of the applied tap lie well belowthe lower limit of the tap hole which is formed in the carton and with the end opening of the exposed leg occupying a level at least as low as that occupied by the inserted legs opening; v

5. The structure of claim 4 in which the end opening of the insertableleg is placed upon the underside and occupies a position adjacent th freeextremity of the leg.

6. A siphoning draw-off tap for liquid-contain ing cartons comprising atubular body openat both ends and produced to an elbow shape .to describe two'legs placed in angular relation and arranged one said leg to be inserted through the wall of the carton and the other saidiles to be exposed and project downwardly to serve as a discharge spout, and means carried by the insertable leg and arranged, when brought to bear against the external face of the wall through which said leg is inserted, to cause the inserted leg to angle downwardly within the carton, the relationship of parts being such that both of the two end openings of the applied tap lie well below the lower limit of the tap hole which is formed in the carton and with the end opening of the exposed leg occupying a level at least as low as that occupied by the inserted legs opening.

7. A draw-off tap for liquid-containing cartons comprising a hollow body of general elbow shape arranged to be so applied through a side wall of the carton as to have one leg of said elbow project into the carton and the other leg lie to the outside thereof and with each said leg projecting downwardly from the tap hole which is formed in the carton, each of said legs having a respective opening so located as to lie, in each instance well below the lowermost limit of said tap hole and serving as respects the inner legs opening to admit liquid to the hollow interior of the body and as respects the outer legs opening to discharge said admitted liquid from the hollow interior of the body, and a flange integrated with the body to occupy a position at or about the mid-length of the latter and arranged in the use of the tap to bear snugly against the outside face of the wall of a carton through which said insertable leg is inserted, the flange being so cocked relative to the axial line 013 said insertable leg that the act of bringing the same snugly against said carton wall causes both of said legs to be localized in their described operating positions, and namely such a localizing that both of the legs point downwardly and positions the opening of each on a horizontal level well below the lower limit of the tap hole.

THEODORE H. DANIELS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

